Grandparents Shop

A Memory of Compton Bishop.

My Grandparents, Joseph and Lilian Stokes, had this property built about 1953, they opened a general stores, the only one for miles around, and also ran the local post office in the shop, a few years later.
Many many happy childhood memories at Big Tree Stores, my brother and I could help ourselves to anything, big tins of Roses and Lucky Numbers sat on the counter to be weighed out, and at Christmas the upstairs sitting room became a gift area with lots of present ideas on show.
The shop was open 6.5 days a week, the garage didn't house Grandpas' car, but the food storeroom at the back, and his Barbers' salon at the front, he had previously had a hairdressing business in Bristol.
My Grandmother stayed on at the shop for a couple of years after my Grandfathers' death in 1964, but then sold the business.